So... What are YOU doing? - Part 8

[Lamb]

Heading out this morning to my church to trim the bushes and spruce up the landscaping. I'm hoping it only takes me 2 hours. I had to take the handle off my wagon to fit it in the back of my SUV. At least it's a nice cool morning outside! I wish I could walk instead, but I already committed to doing this before a new pastor comes to the place.

 

[tango]

Some light building work. I measured and cut a floor bar for the second part of the wall I need to rebuild, got it aligned with the first part as best as I could and then screwed it to the floor. I had to trim a couple of joists supporting the stairs because they protruded about 1/4" into the space I want to work with. I wasn't sure how best to cut them but then found a nice long blade for my sabre saw that did the job very nicely.

Next up is some trimming work on the ceiling, then I can get a top bar screwed into place, and then I can finish building the wall. From there I'll be dangerously close to being ready to get the drywall done in that room.

 

[Lamb]

I slept 11 hours last night! We drove to the city to see our daughter and it really wore me out. It's an hour and 10 minutes each way.

 

[tango]

I got the rest of my wall framed. It went up faster than I expected. I cut a couple of pieces of wood to use as spacers, which makes it easy to position the studs correctly. Adding a bar across the top made it easy to get the studs into approximate position, and then a long level paired with a hammer let me knock them into more precise position easily.

Getting the cross piece for an archway was easy, and fitting the short studs between it and the ceiling went really easily. Of course once the cross piece was in place I could rest things on it, which meant I didn't have to keep going up and down the ladder to get stuff.

Now I have enough depth in the wall cavity to put electrical back boxes in there I can figure where best to put them and route the cables to where they'll need to go.

 

[Lamb]

I'm going to get my state inspection and emissions on the SUV. I better not fail!

 

[tango]

Looks like rain today. I've been thinking about how to run cables between all the assorted switches I'm going to need. Previously I'd assumed I'd run them all through the ceilings but now I'm thinking maybe I'll run them down into the basement and across the basement ceiling. I'm not expecting to need to rewire any time soon but if I run cables through the basement they will be more accessible than if I run them across a ceiling that will be finished.

That would leave cables connecting switches running through the basement with only the single cable feeding the lights/fans running through the ceiling. A couple of spots are tricky to get at in the basement but certainly easier than pulling cables around multiple turns behind a finished ceiling.

 

[Jazzy]

Sick with the flu so I'm just resting today. Hope you all are having a better day then I am.

 

[tango]

It turned out much nicer than forecast today. I got a run in this morning and spent a little time this afternoon tinkering with shimming out door frames and the like. I also had a good cleanup, filled another bag of trash to go out and started making stacks of the wood offcuts so everything is in one place. Often I can use smaller offcuts to make shims or similar, and when they are all in one place it's easier to find them and figure out which ones to use.

I've got a stack of smaller wood blocks that I cut to hold studs in place, that are now surplus to requirements. It's hard to know what I'll ever do with them but a friend who has a couple of sons might be interested in cutting them into wood toys or some such. If he doesn't want them the chances are they'll end up on my burn pile. The burn pile already consists of a big bag, a stack of old laths, two buckets piled high with scraps and a growing pile of other scraps. A growing amount of the burn pile has big nails in it, so it doesn't work very well to put it in a bag.

 

[tango]

A bit more tinkering in the room I'm working on. It turned out I needed to grind some more concrete, which was annoying. I think I've got it all.

 

[Lamb]

I just spent 2 hours watching a movie that had the worst ending. Why oh why didn't I just google the spoiler to see if it was worth my time?

 

[tango]

Got some burning done today. A big pile of wood scraps is now gone. I had a growing pile of bits I'd cut as I cut pieces of framing lumber to length, a few bits of old stud with big nails in them that I cut away, and a few other general accumulated wood scraps from my wood shop. I couldn't get it all burned because I ran out of time but made a big dent in my pile of wood waste. Hopefully within the next couple of weeks I can finish it off and go back to having no wood scraps.

It got a bit tedious because when both of my scrap buckets were full I didn't have anywhere to put newly generated scraps.

 

[Lamb]

We're watching a really dumb movie on Netflix.

 

[Lamb]

My husband and I went away to the beach for a few days and we're back home right now. Going to the beach in the fall is probably the best decision we could have done, perfect weather, less crowds and free parking!

 

[Lamb]

I got up really early and will be doing my Monday chores before going for a walk later today.

 

[tango]

I cleaned up the faces of some old framing lumber I took out when I reframed my walls. It's surprisingly nice wood. I really wish I had access to a decent wood turning lathe so I could make something cool with it.

For now it's stacked in the basement, and there's quite a lot of it. Maybe when I've got more time and space I'll look at getting a lathe so I can play with this sort of thing. It's remarkable how cutting the rough edges away really makes it come to life.

 

[Lamb]

Drinking a decaf coffee and trying to decide if I want to get started on a new project or wait until Wednesday.

 

[tango]

Playing with some wiring today. My wife was busy so I ran a few new cables, and found a handy place to disconnect the main circuit from the bit I'm working on so I don't have to get everything finished off before it gets dark - I can take my time with this one.

So far I've got one switch wired and installed, cabling run to the next switch point and then most of the way to the final switch point. Getting at that last point is going to be tricky because I need to tie a string to the existing cable, pull it down into the basement, then tie the new cable to the string and pull both of them back up. I think I'm going to have to take a wall unit down in order to get at the wiring route, which is an added hassle I could do without.

My biggest problem now is figuring how to join all the earth wires together. In one box I have nine of them, which is a challenge. I'm off to the hardware store tomorrow to look for something to deal with that. I'm going to need to find some kind of push-fit connectors, because I'm running out of space for wire nuts.

 

[Lamb]

I have my LAST cancer follow up with my surgeon this morning!! I'm really excited about this because it's been a very long 5 years.

 

[tango]

I have my LAST cancer follow up with my surgeon this morning!! I'm really excited about this because it's been a very long 5 years.

Does that mean the cancer is gone completely?

 

[tango]

I got my hands on some six-port push-fit wire connectors. Two of them strapped together meant I could connect all of my earth wires, and I used smaller push-fit connectors to join the loose live and neutral wires together. I also managed to pull the extra cable to the final switch and get everything connected, so that piece of work is done. The next step involves running a length of 14/3 from the bottom of the stairs up into the attic so I can fit a light at the top of the stairs. For now it will be a simply hack job with a bulb in a holder and not much else but if I get the wiring in place ready for something more permanent all I need to do is fit a back box and choose a more pleasing light fitting.